The iPad 3 will be announced on 7 March, according to Apple blog iMore, and will support LTE technology for super-fast internet browsing.

If the March date is accurate then the iPad 3 will be announced almost exactly a year after the iPad 2 went on sale, and the third generation tablet would presumably hit the shops a week or so later.

The 7 March date - stated by "sources who have been reliable in the past" - fits with a prediction made by AllThingsD that the iPad 3 would be announced during the first week of March.

Expected to feature a Retina display producing a super-high resolution of 2048x1536, the iPad 3 will represent evolution rather than revolution and is thought to include a quad-core A6 processor and a more powerful battery; the overall design is thought to remain unchanged.

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Long Term Evolution (LTE for short, also known as 4G) is rumoured to be included in the new iPad, but only a few countries, such as South Korea, Japan and the US, have 4G infrastructure in place - the rest of the world (UK included) currently makes do with 3G.

With 4G technology, the iPad 3 will be able to download music, films and apps far quicker than the iPad 2 and internet browsing speeds will also be dramatically increased. But 4G does drain battery life, so the speculation of a larger battery in the new iPad correlates with this.

Elsewhere in the world of tech rumour and hearsay, iLounge believes that the iPad 3 will get treated to a 5- or 8-megapixel rear camera and a high definition front-facing camera for FaceTime video calls - both would be a dramatic improvement on the current model.

Apple is yet to officially reveal when the iPad 3 event will take place, but if 7 March is to be believed then invitations will be sent to the world's press in a matter of days.

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